Upbit

Upbit is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange launched on October 24, 2017, and operated by Dunamu Inc., one of South Korea's most highly valued technology startups. Built initially in partnership with the American exchange Bittrex, which provided the underlying technology stack and early market access, Upbit entered the market with support for over 200 trading pairs from day one. Within two months of launch it had climbed to the top position globally by 24-hour spot trading volume, rapidly establishing itself as the dominant venue for Korean retail and institutional crypto trading.

Dunamu was co-founded by Chi-hyung Song, who transitioned to chairman when Sirgoo Lee — previously co-CEO of Kakao Corp. and JOINS, Inc. — became CEO of Dunamu in December 2017. Kakao Corp. has remained a major backer of Dunamu, and Upbit's user onboarding is closely integrated with Kakao's identity and financial infrastructure.

Markets and Trading

Upbit operates primarily around a Korean Won (KRW) market, which distinguishes it from most global exchanges that anchor to USD or stablecoin pairs. Fiat on-ramps and off-ramps via local bank transfer are available to verified Korean residents. The exchange lists over 180 digital assets with more than 300 trading pairs, spanning major layer-1 protocols including Solana (SOL), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and a broad range of altcoins across DeFi, gaming, and infrastructure sectors.

Trading fees are 0.05% flat on KRW-denominated pairs and 0.25% on BTC and USDT pairs. Upbit does not offer margin trading, perpetual contracts, or leverage products; it is a pure spot exchange. There is no native platform token. A staking service is available for select assets.

KYC is tiered across four levels. Level 1 gives read-only access for price monitoring. Level 2 enables cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals. Level 3 raises withdrawal ceilings. Level 4 unlocks full fiat access and requires submission of government-issued identification, proof of address, and linked bank account verification. Citizens and residents of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and the United States are explicitly restricted from using the platform.

Upbit holds ISMS certification and ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018 certifications, earned in December 2018. The exchange employs cold wallet storage for the majority of assets, 24/7 monitoring, two-factor authentication, and a fund password layer for withdrawal approvals. CertiK has assigned Upbit an A-grade security rating of 83.52.

Global Expansion

Beyond South Korea, Upbit has established regulated operations in three additional markets through distinct regional entities. Upbit Singapore launched October 30, 2018. Upbit Indonesia began operations in January 2019. Upbit Thailand followed in January 2021. Each regional deployment maintains its own API management portal and complies with local licensing requirements. The global documentation site at global-docs.upbit.com covers the shared API infrastructure used across all four jurisdictions, offering Quotation, Exchange, and Websocket APIs for programmatic market data access, order management, and real-time streaming.

Regulatory Position in South Korea

South Korea implemented its Virtual Asset Service Provider framework in September 2021, requiring all domestic crypto exchanges to obtain formal registration. Upbit became the first exchange in the country to receive VASP licensing under this regime, a reflection of its early investment in compliance infrastructure. Upbit currently accounts for over 80% of South Korean virtual asset trading volume, giving it an outsized influence on domestic crypto price discovery and capital flows.

Security Incident and Attribution

In November 2019, Upbit suffered a significant breach in which 342,000 ETH were stolen from a hot wallet. The exchange suspended deposit and withdrawal services for roughly two weeks and compensated affected users using company reserves. A five-year investigation concluded in November 2024, with South Korea's National Office of Investigation formally attributing the attack to North Korean state-sponsored hacking groups Lazarus and Andariel. In October 2023, Korean authorities recovered 4.8 Bitcoin linked to the incident.

Financial Scale and Corporate Developments

Dunamu posted 1.56 trillion KRW in revenue and 708.8 billion KRW in net profit for fiscal year 2025, making Upbit among the most profitable businesses in South Korea's technology sector. The exchange handled around $525 million in 24-hour spot volume at mid-2026 and ranked 14th globally by reported trading volume.

Upbit's parent has attracted significant institutional capital in 2025 and 2026. In November 2025, Naver Financial — the payments and fintech arm of South Korea's dominant search and e-commerce company — announced plans to acquire a stake in Dunamu. In May 2026, several Samsung affiliates collectively paid over $400 million for a combined Dunamu stake. That same month, Hana Bank — one of South Korea's five largest commercial banks — agreed to purchase a 6.55% stake in Dunamu for approximately 1 trillion KRW ($670 million) from Kakao Investment, making Hana the fourth-largest Dunamu shareholder. The Hana Bank deal included a framework agreement for the two companies to collaborate on won-pegged stablecoin development, blockchain-based cross-border remittances, tokenized securities infrastructure, and digital asset management products. The transaction reflected an implied Dunamu valuation in the range of $10 billion.

Developer Access

Upbit provides a versioned public API documented at global-docs.upbit.com. The Quotation API delivers market data including OHLCV candles, orderbook snapshots, and trade history via REST. The Exchange API handles order placement, balance queries, and deposit/withdrawal requests. A Websocket API supports real-time streaming for trades, orderbook updates, and personal order notifications.